Belt of Belief: The Age of Dreams will not end
by Rondosparks
Summary: Kudo's Life will never be the same when a mysterious crashes into his home that sets him on the course to find great treasure.
1. Kudos, Boy of WhiteShore Island

Rocky Road Village, WhiteShore Island, North Blue

WhiteShore Island is known for its beautiful beaches, Sunny skies and ornate seashells that wash up on shore. Even though It is one of the most northern islands in the North Blue, the summer island is a popular destination for people throughout the North Blue. The Island has an extensive trading port that covers over a third of an island, impressive even for the small size of the island. Marine ships occasionally pass through the waters but it is not a destination enforcement sticks around for. The country is known for its extensive trade in rare northern fish and other seafood. Of the towns on the island, the second smallest, Rocky Road Village, contains a small yet efficient supply of northern blue-scaled tuna.

On a day like any other, a boy and his dad walk out to the end of the pier.

"The Sky looks clear today" said the man, Hume. "I think we should be expecting a great hall."

"Are you going to let me go out with you are your fishing boat then," exclaimed eight year old Kudos.

Hume looked down and smiled. "Not yet. I told you, not until your ten years old."

"Why not! I know I'm string enough to go out on the boat," he said puffing his chest out with a big hmpff, arms crossed. "I've helped you bring in tuna all the time from your boat."

Still smiling, he looked up at the sky. "There's a big world out there. Each day is a risk in itself. You never know what's going to pop out of the water." He looked around, then bent down and whispered, "I hear there might even be Sea Kings out there."

Sticking his tongue out, Kudos replied "Shanty stories is all that is."

"Maybe not. I've heard that the Calm Belt in the south is supposed to hold schools of them. Waiting to attack nearby crews." replied Hume. "I hear that those beasts are known for slipping around underwater, hugging enemy ships till they had a firm grasp and….BOOM..the whole ship would collapse making all the sailors fall in the water…..never to be seen again." He looked around mysteriously. " I heard one sailor actually saw a Sea King destroy a ship without even moving."

Rolling his eyes, he pulled out a long wooden fishing spear off of his back. "Whatever, I'm going to at least try to fish off of the dock then. Even though nothing hangs out here anymore since you've brought the population down so much," Kudos added.

"Ah that's just garbage visitors have been spitting out at us to try to catch them a free dinner. Watch this." He pulled out the fishing spear off of his back, a longer spear then that of Kudos, with a solid oak handle and a purplish, spiked blade on the end. Grabbing it with one hand he shot the spike into the water, attached to the handle by a rusty chain. The moment it hit the water, Hume took a step back retracting the spearhead, with a clearly visible bluish-gray fish on the end. "There still around," he said. "You just need to know where to look for them. Now then." He picked up the fish and threw it on Kudos. "I got you breakfast. Go see if you can get a good price for it in town."

"I got the snail if anything's up," he said as his dad started walking towards the small fishing vessel. "See ya."

Carrying the fish over his shoulder Kudos struggled to bring it up from the harbor to the main square. Here there was always a buzz of activity. Little shops popped up all over the streets, selling things from little, and ornate seashell necklaces to rare lapahn meat. Just as Kudos was entering the district a large yellow-green creature ran at him.

Kudos looked at him and hopped up on the nearest stand holding the fish directly in the air. "NO TATSUO. This isn't feeding time. This is for the market."

The Pet Bananawani looked up at him with a sad face.

Sighing, Kudos said, "Come on, we'll look for something in the market after we sell this fish."

He hopped off the stand and tatsuo waddled up next to him, walking alongside. The pair walked down towards the far end of the market till they came to a fish stall run by an older lady with light grey hair and a flowered dress on.

"Morning Kudos," the old woman said to him. "Hey tatty, it looks like somebody is hungry," she said mentioning down to Tatsuo.

Tatsuo motioned his front two legs on the stand and sat there with his tounge out. The Woman picked one of the medium sized fish from the back of the stand and tossed it at him. Tatsuo leaped up and caught the fish in its mouth, eating it in one bite.

"You really shouldn't spoil him. He's never going to learn to hunt if you keep doing that Kiera," He said giving her a disapproving look.

Kiera smirked. "I think it's a bit too late for that. Otherwise you would have told me to stop a while ago. So what can I do for you today?" she asked.

Kudos lifted the Tuna on the table. "Just give me a good price for this," he said.

"You know, there are probably people in this town who will give you a better price then I would for this fish," she said.

"Yeah, well you're the only one who I can guarantee won't come up with a price, then try to pay it off in seashells," he joked. Besides the service hear is always-BLAM!

A pile of rags crashed right into Kudos rolling him over Tatsuo.

"Ow that hurt!" he exclaimed. "whats the big id….."

Looking over he saw that the pile of rags was actually of small child with wispy blonde hair, bold eyes and a scared look on her face.

She looked over, and Hastily said "Please, hide me. I need somewhere to hide!"


	2. Enter Selena and the Purplebeard Pirates

Rocky Road Village, WhiteShore Island, North Blue part 2

Holding the back of his head Kudos started to stand up. "Ow!" he exclaimed. What was that f…"

The girl suddenly grabbed his shirt. "Please, I need somewhere to hide. Bad people are chasing me."

Kudos straightened himself up them responded "Fine but we're talking after about this." He turned to Kiera. Can you just let her stay in your stand until she calms down?" Looking over at her he saw that the girl was looking around nervously.

Kiera nodded and opened the flap to let her inside. She immediately ran inside the stand and hid behind the shelves of fish. At that moment three men, obviously out of place on the island came walking down the street. Each of them must have been twice the size of Kudos and had muscles the size of his head. The middle, the largest of the three and with a large beard started to yell at Kudos "Did some brat girl run through here carrying a brown paper bag."

Gulping he replied, "Yeah I saw her run past here not one minute ago. It looked like she was heading towards the outer harbor." He pointed down the street opposite the direction they had come from.

Smiling devilishly the middle man replied, "Thanks, mini brat. Come on guys she's probably trying to ditch us again" The three of them ran down the street. As soon as they got out of sight, the young girl poked her head out from below.

She hopped over the counter and said "Thanks for that. Catch you around." She turned the opposite way to head back from where she came.

Kudos pulled out his wooden spear and hopped in front of her. "Hold it," he said. "I think you have some explaining to do. First maybe you can explain who those guys were and why they were chasing you."

She lowered her head and looked away from kudos. "I've been on that ship for the past six months. Those men are pirates. Part of the Purplebeard Pirates crew. They came to my hometown of cyan brick village and started looting. They killed a lot of people in my town, including my parents. Then they took me prisoner and forced me in a prison. As soon as we got to this port I picked the lock to my cell with a piece of wood I've been filing down, hopped ship and ran. Those guys have been hunting me down ever since. Is it possible there is somewhere I can hide out? Maybe they'll give up on me. My names Sel by the way. Selena Jules. But just call me Sel."

She looked up at Kudos. For the first time he actually saw her appearance. The pile of rags he saw was really a pair of tattered clothes that looked like they had been warn too long. She had bright blonde hair that was now messy and shambled. "You can come to my house if you want. My dad's off at work right now but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you stayed for a while."

"Hold it," a voice said forcefully. Kudos looked over at Kiera as she was eyeing out the young girl. "We don't know how far these pirates will go to get you back. And while we are on the subject of storytelling, would you mind telling us what is in that paper bag you have behind your back."

Kudos looked over and saw Sel's face start to turn a bit red. "Just some food from the pirate's boat. I didn't know how long I was going to be out here for so I just grabbed some out of the kitchen."

Kiera hopped out of her stall and with a speed not befitting her age swiped the bag from the girls' hands. She opened it up and dropped what looked like a single bright yellow plum white brood-red swirls in it. "This is all you stole from the ship?" she asked. "I you wanted to steal something pirates you should have at least…" She stopped midsentence and looked back at the fruit. She squinted then suddenly opened her eyes really big. "This is a devil fruit," she said quietly staring at the girl.

Kudos, confused asked "A what?" then looked over at Sel. She started smiling a little avoiding Kiera's gaze.

"Okay, maybe I wasn't "entirely" truthful at first," she stated. "I was brought onto the Purplebeard's ship like I said. But they had me on deck cleaning up. At the last island we went to, Likneel or something like that, we found a man who was running around town boasting about how he had found one of the fruits only to have it taken by the captain. He'd been glorifying that piece of junk for a couple of weeks now. I thought I had the opportunity to jump ship while the crew was reloading the rum storage and figured that thing would seal the deal against him."

Kudos still with a puzzled look on his face asked "That's cool but I still don't know what a devil fruit is?"

Kiera replied, "It's a fruit that was supposedly created by the devil. There are hundreds of them out there, each with the power to grant the eater a superhuman ability. Each fruit is unique in its property and no two fruits of the same kind can exist at the same time."

Kudos awestruck, turned to Sel. "You have to eat then," he exclaimed. "Maybe you'll be able to turn into a giant monster that shoots cannonballs out of his eyes and…"

"NO," said Kiera from behind Kudos. "There is a price that every person who eats a devil fruit must suffer. The moment you consume the fruit you are turning your back against the sea. The moment you take a bite you lose all ability to swim and survive submerged underwater for the rest of your life.

Sel looked down. "Yep," she muttered. "Everything has a price."

Kudos thought for a second. "I've got an idea," he said. "Here Tatsuo take my backpack." He emptied everything out of his pockets. "Just run this….." He looked around. Tatsuo was nowhere to be found. "Where is that stupid Bananawani? I don't talk to you for five minutes and you run off to go look for food." Annoyed, he continued, "Come on we got to go find Tatsuo. He's probably run off somewhere to look for food."

"Bananawhat?" Sel asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Bananawani, the infamous robber of food in the Rocky Road Village," he answered semi-sarcastically. "It's a normally carnivorous creature normally found in southern climates that my dad's had since before I was born. I'm sure he probably hasn't gone far."

Kudos and Sel walked down the street surely enough finding the creature trying to nick sandwiches off of a stand a block over, along the edge of the city. Looking directly into Tatsuo's eyes Kudos said, "There you are. I told you not to go running off to steal food from strange stalls."

A voice behind him echoed "Ah, so you do have morality when it comes to stealing things."

Turning around, he saw a man in a large red cloak with a long purple-black beard hanging down. Alongside him, the man who he had seen earlier has standing next to him holding an unconscious Sel in his arms. He reached for his spear but before he could finish drawing it something big came over his head and everything went black.


End file.
